Temperature-controlled chemical processing reactor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11923176-B2
Application number	US-202017008188-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2020
Priority date	Feb 9, 2017
Publication date	Mar 5, 2024
Grant date	Mar 5, 2024

Abstract

This disclosure provides a reactor system that includes a microwave source configured to generate a microwave energy, one or more energy sources configured to generate a thermal energy and a field-enhancing waveguide (FEWG) coupled to the microwave source. The FEWG includes a field-enhancing zone having a cross-sectional area that decreases along a length of the FEWG. The field-enhancing zone includes a supply gas inlet configured to receive a supply gas, a reaction zone configured to generate a plasma in response to excitation of the supply gas by the microwave energy, a process inlet configured to inject a raw material into the reaction zone, and an afterglow region configured to combine the plasma and the raw material in response to the thermal energy. An outlet outputs a plurality of carbon-inclusive particles resulting from the combination of the plasma and the raw material. Electrodes can be positioned proximate to the reaction zone.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A reactor system comprising:
a microwave source configured to generate a microwave energy;
one or more independently controllable heating sources;
a field-enhancing waveguide (FEWG) disposed downstream the microwave source, extending in-line with it and including a plasma zone and an afterglow region and characterized by a cross-sectional area that decreases along a portion of a length of the FEWG, the FEWG comprising:
a supply gas inlet disposed downstream of the microwave source, and configured to provide a supply gas to the FEWG, wherein a majority of the supply gas is configured to flow in the direction of microwave propagation along the length of the FEWG;
the plasma zone disposed in fluid communication with the supply gas inlet and configured to generate a plasma in response to excitation of the supply gas by the microwave energy wherein the microwave source or the FEWG is configured to direct microwave energy directly into the plasma zone and not through a dielectric window or wall;
a process inlet configured to inject a raw material into one of the plasma zone or the afterglow region disposed downstream of the plasma zone wherein the afterglow region is disposed in thermal communication with the one or more independently controllable heating sources and configured to produce a plurality of carbon-inclusive particles by reacting the plasma and the raw material; and
an outlet disposed downstream of the afterglow region and configured to output the plurality of carbon-inclusive particles.

2. The reactor system of claim 1 , further comprising a pair of electrodes positioned on opposite sides of the FEWG and proximate to the plasma zone, the pair of electrodes configured to generate an electric field.

3. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the microwave energy is pulsed according to a pulse frequency.

4. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the FEWG is configured to concentrate the microwave energy.

5. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the FEWG further comprises a controller configured to independently control the one or more heating sources.

6. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the FEWG is configured to self-nucleate the carbon-inclusive particles by tuning the reactor system process conditions.

7. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the carbon-inclusive particles include graphene platelets.

8. The reactor system of claim 7 , wherein the FEWG is configured to fuse the graphene platelets to each other at substantially orthogonal angles by tuning the reactor system process conditions.

9. The reactor system of claim 8 , wherein the FEWG comprises a tunable waveguide configured to selectively adjust one or more angles at which the graphene platelets are fused together.

10. The reactor system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more independently controllable heating sources are configured to disperse the graphene platelets within each of the carbon-inclusive particles.

11. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the FEWG is configured to adjust a length of the plasma zone by selectively flowing one or more precursors through the FEWG.

12. The reactor system of claim 1 , further comprising a first set of secondary zones positioned downstream from the afterglow region, the first set of secondary zones comprising an agglomeration zone.

13. The reactor system of claim 12 , further comprising one or more heating sources disposed in thermal communication with the first set of secondary zones.

14. The reactor system of claim 13 , wherein the one or more heating sources comprises a microwave energy device.

15. The reactor system of 14 , wherein the microwave device is configured to adjust one or more of a pulsing frequency, a pulsing duty cycle, or a pulsing shape of microwave energy provided to the first set of secondary zones.

16. The reactor system of claim 12 , further comprising a second set of secondary zones positioned downstream from the first set of secondary zones, the second set of secondary zones comprising a cooling zone.

17. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the output from the outlet further comprises any one or more of carbonaceous particles, colloidal dispersions, or a plurality of solid particles.

Assignees

• Lyten Inc

Inventors

• Stowell Michael W
• Anzelmo Bryce H
• Riso Thomas

Classifications

• H01J37/32192 Primary

  Microwave generated discharge (H01J37/32357, H01J37/32366, H01J37/32394, H01J37/32403 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01J37/32229

  Waveguides · CPC title

• H01J37/3244 Primary

  Gas supply means · CPC title

• H01J37/32532

  Electrodes · CPC title

• H01J2237/334

  Etching · CPC title